-The Indian Express Pneumonia continues to be the leading cause of deaths among children under five years of age in India. According to the Pneumonia Progress Report 2012 brought out by the International Vaccine Access Centre and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in 2010, India recorded the highest under-five mortality from the dreaded disease. Though in the period 2000-10, the overall child mortality dipped from 9.6 million to 7.6...

-Mainstream Weekly Dr Binayak Sen, an internationally renowned medical practitioner and social activist (a leading figure in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties), was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh and held in detention in Raipur having been branded as a Maoist for his activities in defence of poor tribals in the State. He is now out on bail. The following is the text of the Arvind Narayan Das Memorial Lecture he delivered in...

-The Telegraph India’s education system is marked by poor quality and produces “functional illiterates”, the chief of a UN body told The Telegraph here today. “India has made a lot of progress in achieving education for all, but what kind of education is being imparted and whether there are adequate teachers are issues of concern. The result is functional illiteracy,” Unesco director-general Irina Bokova said on the sidelines of a conference by...

-The Hindu Most of the youth were working outside district when the attack took place With normality limping back to Dalit villages in Dharmapuri district, which witnessed a caste flare-up on Wednesday evening, the victims have alleged that an act of ‘systematic destruction’ of their properties and livelihood resources has taken place. The Dalit settlements of Natham, Kondampatti and Annanagar in Naikkankottai villages bore the brunt of mob fury following the suicide of...

-The Times of India KOCHI: The private schools in the state which don't meet the infrastructure requirements as prescribed in the Right to Education (RTE) Act have a reason to smile. The sixteenth joint mission of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, in its latest report, has suggested that instead of closing down private schools that are not RTE-compliant, the state governments should ensure that quality standards are met both by private as...